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ITV Report

20 November 2017 at 12:10pm

Head teacher says education in Cornwall is suffering from lack of funding

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The head of a Cornish secondary school is calling on the Chancellor to tackle what he calls unfair school funding, ahead of Wednesday's budget. Bill Marshall, head of Humphrey Davy in Penzance, says schools in other parts of the country get 40 per cent more - and it's having a direct impact on children's education.

The Government has a new funding formula it'll be using to set school budgets next year. It says it'll spend a minimum of £3,500 per primary pupil and £4,800 per secondary pupil.

But teachers say funding for schools of the same size vary massively depending on what area they are in. The Government's own figures show a school in Coventry can get £510 more per pupil than one in Pymouth.

Bill Marshall with other head teachers in Downing Street Credit: ITV News West Country

Mr Marshall was among a group of head teachers that handed a letter to Chancellor Phillip Hammond last week, asking him to tackle inadequate school funding ahead of Wednesday's budget.

''We have senior leading teams making decisions about cutting back on subjects in the curriculum, which are increasing class sizes, which are actually cutting back on the support available to some of our most vulnerable students because they cannot provide the one to one support for students with special needs."